The present disclosure relates to a tag that is attached to transportation carts and/or to hand held or other containers to identify, notify, label or inform whether the transportation cart or the hand held container is transporting clean/sterile item(s) or item(s) contaminated with or considered bio-hazardous material. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a multi-layer tag that is utilized within a medical or health care providing facility to identify whether the transportation cart and/or the hand held container is transporting clean/sterile item(s) or item(s) contaminated with or considered bio-hazardous material.
As used herein, the term item(s) includes, but is not limited to, medical products, instruments and/or equipment.
Due to the configuration of many facilities, item(s) required for a procedure can be transferred within or out of the facility from a clean room or area to an area or room where a medical procedure is to be performed and back to a cleaning/sterile/general processing area. The item(s), whether clean or contaminated by a bio-hazardous material, are typically transported within a transportation cart or container through at least one area accessible to the public.
For purposes of this application, a bio-hazardous material is blood or other potentially infectious materials pursuant to CFR 1910.1030(a). If the bio-hazardous material comes into contact with health care personnel or the public, the potential exists for the transfer of a microorganism, such as bacteria or a virus, which can cause a short term or long term illness. The transfer of such a microorganism must be prevented to ensure the health of the health care personnel or the public.
Therefore it is imperative that the transportation cart or the container used to transport items through areas accessible to the public or other areas be identified as containing clean items or as containing items contaminated with a bio-hazardous material. When a transportation cart or container is identified as transporting an item contaminated by a bio-hazardous material, the public and/or staff are notified to avoid the transportation cart or hand held container. In fact, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standard CFR 1910.10.1030(g)(9)(i)(B) requires such notification. However, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited to compliance with OSHA regulations and may be utilized to comply with the regulations of other agencies or entities.
Typically, items transferred within a health care facility are contained within a transportation cart, commonly referred to as a case cart. The case cart has wheels or casters for moving the case cart from one location to another location, such as from a room that stores sterile equipment to an operating room or procedure room and back to a sterile processing area. A case cart is typically constructed of steel, such as stainless steel, and has drawers or bins to contain the medical equipment. While a case cart is exemplary, the present disclosure is not limited to a case cart.
For instance, sterilized item(s) can be transported from a room that stores sterile item(s) to an operating room through areas that are accessible to the public, typically in a case cart. While sterile, the item(s) within the case cart poses no health risk to the public, and can be safely transported through areas that are accessible to the public.
However, once the item(s) has been used in a medical procedure or exposed to bio-hazardous material, the case cart used to transport the item(s) must be identified as containing the item(s) contaminated with the bio-hazardous material to minimize the possibility of exposure to such bio-hazardous materials. Therefore, the transfer of the contaminated item(s) poses a health risk to the public and/or staff within publicly accessible areas or any other areas. It should be noted that while a case cart is being discussed, the same issues arise when item(s) are transported in a hand held container, such as a bin with a lid.
A typical scenario includes the transportation of item(s) to and from a surgical procedure. The item(s) are cleaned/sterilized and transported to the operating or procedure room with a case cart. Because the case cart is clean and the item(s) are clean or sterile, the risk of any contamination of persons that could contact the item(s) are minimal. However, after the medical procedure, such as a surgical procedure, the item(s) are contaminated with the patient's tissue and/or fluids, which are considered to be a bio-hazardous material. Even when transported in a case cart, a risk exists of exposing the public to the patient's tissue and/or fluid which is a bio-hazardous material. Risks of contaminating other clean/sterile items also exist. Identifying the case cart as containing item(s) contaminated with a bio-hazardous material aids in eliminating the risk of exposure to bio-hazardous materials.